With the new year, the time has come for a new case. And with a new case comes a new build log of course. This time, I will not be building my personal computer but will instead build a new enclosure for my HTPC, which currently resides in my Mikros enclosure.
Being an HTPC, it has a couple of different requirements and constraints than an ordinary computer. The hardware requirements will remain the same as before: a simple low power processor along with a low profile 75W graphics card with aftermarket fan(s), preferably with an internal power supply.
The most important requirement though is its looks: it should be living room-proof. By that, I mean that it should blend in with the room and not look like an odd box sitting on my cabinet. This is very subjective of course, but I'm trying to use materials and shapes which are more common in interior design.
To sum up, I'm making an enclosure inspired by interior design that houses a computer that is strong enough for some light couch gaming. This bring me to my new case.
1. Design
For the case design, I'm trying to find a blend between your typical PC case, being a black cube, and some other elements that are popular in interior design. I'm looking at lines, shapes and materials of other things you would often find in your living room (decoration, art, furniture, ...).
After a couple of months experimenting and iterating, this is what I came up with. I present to you, the Talos:
2. Materials
My material of choice to distinguish this case has become brass. This choice reflects not only in its looks, but also in its functionality. The core of the case is made of a 4mm thick brass sheet that will support all the hardware and give the case its rigidity and strength. Rather than hiding this core inside the enclosure, I chose to have the brass show slightly along the edges of the case. This look is complemented with a brass power button and case feet. The case feet have the typical reversed cone shape that's used often for furniture feet.
The rest of the case will be 3d printed in matte black, both to keep cost under control (the brass base plate is already expensive) and because my inner maker-geek longs to use my printer. It is also a very efficient way to make these custom one-off projects.
For the vents, I will be using some black painted mesh to allow for sufficient airflow in the case.
3. The case
The case dimensions will be 204mm x 247mm x 66mm, for a total of 3.3 liters (case feet excluded). It will be made of 4 major parts: the 4mm brass base plate, a 4mm thick printed bezel, a 3mm top plate and a 3mm bottom panel. For front IO, there will be a 12mm power button, USB type C header and a power LED. The cpu cooler limit is 38mm and the graphics card should be low profile and less than 172mm long. The graphics card uses a short PCB riser to rotate it 90 degrees. There will be the option to deshroud the graphics card, replacing the fans by aftermarket 60x25 ones. This should keep the case quiet under load.
4. A story of power
As noted in the introduction, I want to use an internal power supply in this case. Existing form factors like Flex and SFX all felt too chunky and overkill for a build like this. This left me with the less established options of HDPlex and 12V power supplies like Meanwell. I chose the Meanwell LSP 160 along with the Mini-box 160XT that I already owned. This choice is mainly a functional one, the Meanwell form factor looks as if it was made for my case and allows me to print the bezel in one piece. There is also the 200W UHP series, but this one is slightly too large for my print bed. The 160W power budget is rather limited though, so this requires me to be creative in my choice of hardware if I still want to use a 75W graphics card.
5. The hardware
With the power budget established, I could start my hunt for components. I had to decide on a CPU that offered enough performance for some light gaming but that would also leave enough power for my graphics card. The few '65W TDP' options all seemed too power hungry as their true power consumption went well above their rated TDP. This meant that AMD was no longer an option as they focus on the higher end of the spectrum and their Athlons are simply not potent enough. Intel, however, does still have some nice options that meet my requirements, and contrary to their high-end line-up, their mid-end line-up has its power consumption under control. I decided on an i3 from the 10th generation, a quadcore processor with hyperthreading that would be called an i7 a couple of generations ago (thanks AMD). Initially, I wanted to get an i3-10105, but I got a good deal on a 10100T, which is the 'low power' equivalent with a TDP of 35W. This should leave more than enough power for my graphics card.
The graphics card itself will be a hard choice, because at the moment there aren't really any interesting options. The long overdue 1050ti and 1650 by Nvidia have had their prices explode and the A2000 is actually a workstation card and is also way too expensive. With the 6500XT and the RTX 3050 being >100W cards, I don't think we will be seeing any low profile cards soon. Let's hope the upcoming Intel cards have something nice to offer.
The rest of the hardware will be simple: an M.2 SSD, a Noctua NH-l9i to cool the processor and two 60mm Noctua fans to replace the graphics card fans.
6. Result
Coming soon...
Being an HTPC, it has a couple of different requirements and constraints than an ordinary computer. The hardware requirements will remain the same as before: a simple low power processor along with a low profile 75W graphics card with aftermarket fan(s), preferably with an internal power supply.
The most important requirement though is its looks: it should be living room-proof. By that, I mean that it should blend in with the room and not look like an odd box sitting on my cabinet. This is very subjective of course, but I'm trying to use materials and shapes which are more common in interior design.
To sum up, I'm making an enclosure inspired by interior design that houses a computer that is strong enough for some light couch gaming. This bring me to my new case.
1. Design
For the case design, I'm trying to find a blend between your typical PC case, being a black cube, and some other elements that are popular in interior design. I'm looking at lines, shapes and materials of other things you would often find in your living room (decoration, art, furniture, ...).
After a couple of months experimenting and iterating, this is what I came up with. I present to you, the Talos:
2. Materials
My material of choice to distinguish this case has become brass. This choice reflects not only in its looks, but also in its functionality. The core of the case is made of a 4mm thick brass sheet that will support all the hardware and give the case its rigidity and strength. Rather than hiding this core inside the enclosure, I chose to have the brass show slightly along the edges of the case. This look is complemented with a brass power button and case feet. The case feet have the typical reversed cone shape that's used often for furniture feet.
The rest of the case will be 3d printed in matte black, both to keep cost under control (the brass base plate is already expensive) and because my inner maker-geek longs to use my printer. It is also a very efficient way to make these custom one-off projects.
For the vents, I will be using some black painted mesh to allow for sufficient airflow in the case.
3. The case
The case dimensions will be 204mm x 247mm x 66mm, for a total of 3.3 liters (case feet excluded). It will be made of 4 major parts: the 4mm brass base plate, a 4mm thick printed bezel, a 3mm top plate and a 3mm bottom panel. For front IO, there will be a 12mm power button, USB type C header and a power LED. The cpu cooler limit is 38mm and the graphics card should be low profile and less than 172mm long. The graphics card uses a short PCB riser to rotate it 90 degrees. There will be the option to deshroud the graphics card, replacing the fans by aftermarket 60x25 ones. This should keep the case quiet under load.
4. A story of power
As noted in the introduction, I want to use an internal power supply in this case. Existing form factors like Flex and SFX all felt too chunky and overkill for a build like this. This left me with the less established options of HDPlex and 12V power supplies like Meanwell. I chose the Meanwell LSP 160 along with the Mini-box 160XT that I already owned. This choice is mainly a functional one, the Meanwell form factor looks as if it was made for my case and allows me to print the bezel in one piece. There is also the 200W UHP series, but this one is slightly too large for my print bed. The 160W power budget is rather limited though, so this requires me to be creative in my choice of hardware if I still want to use a 75W graphics card.
5. The hardware
With the power budget established, I could start my hunt for components. I had to decide on a CPU that offered enough performance for some light gaming but that would also leave enough power for my graphics card. The few '65W TDP' options all seemed too power hungry as their true power consumption went well above their rated TDP. This meant that AMD was no longer an option as they focus on the higher end of the spectrum and their Athlons are simply not potent enough. Intel, however, does still have some nice options that meet my requirements, and contrary to their high-end line-up, their mid-end line-up has its power consumption under control. I decided on an i3 from the 10th generation, a quadcore processor with hyperthreading that would be called an i7 a couple of generations ago (thanks AMD). Initially, I wanted to get an i3-10105, but I got a good deal on a 10100T, which is the 'low power' equivalent with a TDP of 35W. This should leave more than enough power for my graphics card.
The graphics card itself will be a hard choice, because at the moment there aren't really any interesting options. The long overdue 1050ti and 1650 by Nvidia have had their prices explode and the A2000 is actually a workstation card and is also way too expensive. With the 6500XT and the RTX 3050 being >100W cards, I don't think we will be seeing any low profile cards soon. Let's hope the upcoming Intel cards have something nice to offer.
The rest of the hardware will be simple: an M.2 SSD, a Noctua NH-l9i to cool the processor and two 60mm Noctua fans to replace the graphics card fans.
6. Result
Coming soon...
